The bottom line here is to realize how important is humility and sincerity. Both terms are based on truth because as usually said, humility is truth in the sense that being humble is to admit our humble beginnings. "Remember man that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return" (Gen. 3:19). Sincere comes from the Latin "sine cera," that is, taking away the wax masks used by actors in a play, meaning to say, showing your real self, or being true to yourself.
Therefore, all the problems of our world today are precisely that: people think they know, yet not enough to know the reality, facts and the truth. They get only to part of the truth and remember "a lie is only half of the truth" like a salesman telling you their product is good without revealing some defective side of the product.
Whether it's on religion, environmental protection, reproductive health or personal attitudes, let's be sincere in seeking for the truth. Let not pride or money be the obstacle in your quest for the truth. Your pride may tell you as if you know everything, just because you come from a prestigious school. Then just because of that you lose the most important quality of life: humility. The humility that teaches you to listen because there's so much to learn. To listen to your parents and loved ones who sacrificed for your education. To listen because in life there's so much to learn and to discern amid the many lies (half-truths) being taught. To listen even from the simple and humble people, from children and from whoever may be source of a truthful answer. Yes, be humble and sincere lest in your pride you may may remain a most ignorant person on earth. If you have to know, humbly search for the whole truth, the complete truth. Because a little knowledge is dangerous.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Violation of the Principle
People wonder at the stories of failures and collapse of big institutions that once were centers of world admiration or even of great lives that got the attention of many.. It's to revert to principles, especially to the truth of God's eternal word that never fails. Jesus, God Almighty, ever asks us to be humble because "the man who humbles himself shall be exalted, but the man who exalts himself shall be humbled" (Lk. 18:9-14). So where is that truth?
As the world scrambles for material riches in money and pleasures and power, they have forgotten what should be in first place: God. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you" (Mt. 6:33). All the movements forgetting such principle would end in collapse unless they change and repent.
What's in our world today? Because of the money that could be gained, people turn to destructive mining and logging, just to have more money. The same with those who want to control population at all cost, because of the funds offered. The result is the worsening of the environmental climate, the livelihood of the people, the offense against human life (the first right) in the killing of the innocent unborn. In all these the Almighty, the Avenger of blood is not asleep, He who knows all secrets and has said in the word of Scripture: "Vengeance is mine -- I will pay them back" (Rm. 12:19; Dt. 32:35). They were not seeking the good of man, the common good, but rather themselves in power, greed and money. Shall these go on?
Environmental devastation, wars, killing the unborn in mothers' wombs all because of the false gods and idols of money, power and greed? Have we forgotten the law? "Do unto others what you want others do unto you -- the very meaning of the Law and the Prophets" (Mt. 7:12; Rom. 13:8-10; Lv. 19:18). Precisely, a popular organization expert had rightly expressed: "Money, like prestige, if sought directly, is almost never gained. It must come as a byproduct of a worthwhile objective or result which is sought and achieved for its own sake" (R. Townsend). If we make money the god, we are doomed to failure. It's time we turn to the true God and follow His will that wants us to seek always for the eternal good and destiny of man.
As the world scrambles for material riches in money and pleasures and power, they have forgotten what should be in first place: God. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you" (Mt. 6:33). All the movements forgetting such principle would end in collapse unless they change and repent.
What's in our world today? Because of the money that could be gained, people turn to destructive mining and logging, just to have more money. The same with those who want to control population at all cost, because of the funds offered. The result is the worsening of the environmental climate, the livelihood of the people, the offense against human life (the first right) in the killing of the innocent unborn. In all these the Almighty, the Avenger of blood is not asleep, He who knows all secrets and has said in the word of Scripture: "Vengeance is mine -- I will pay them back" (Rm. 12:19; Dt. 32:35). They were not seeking the good of man, the common good, but rather themselves in power, greed and money. Shall these go on?
Environmental devastation, wars, killing the unborn in mothers' wombs all because of the false gods and idols of money, power and greed? Have we forgotten the law? "Do unto others what you want others do unto you -- the very meaning of the Law and the Prophets" (Mt. 7:12; Rom. 13:8-10; Lv. 19:18). Precisely, a popular organization expert had rightly expressed: "Money, like prestige, if sought directly, is almost never gained. It must come as a byproduct of a worthwhile objective or result which is sought and achieved for its own sake" (R. Townsend). If we make money the god, we are doomed to failure. It's time we turn to the true God and follow His will that wants us to seek always for the eternal good and destiny of man.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Source of Corruption
Such a controversy indeed as regards the Reproductive Health bills being debated in Congress and in various sectors. The Church arguing that life has to be protected from the womb to the tomb has consistently spoken against such bills that implicitly contain contraception and abortion. Also the act of love between couples has to be open to the transmission of new life. Most contraceptives tend to be detrimental to the beginnings of life in the human foetus. Well, check this out for yourself, if you are sincere. We know that the first of the rights of man is life, aside from those that follow, which are liberty or freedom and property.
But why such a desire to kill and destroy human life? We know that huge amounts are being funded to corrupt the minds of people in this very issue. There's big money too in the birth control devices because it's catering to people's weaknesses in the matter of sexual morality. The only warning we can make to legislators and those promoting these devices that can and do kill human life is that one of the prominent sins calling for God's vengeance and punishment is willful murder (including abortion).
"The love of money is the root of all evils and there are some who, pursuing it, have wandered away from the faith, and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds" (1 Tim. 6:10). It's been a common defect and a wrong way of doing things that only brings failure in its wake. I mean that: when people make money the foundation of their lives. "Money, like prestige, if sought directly, is almost never gained.
It must come as a byproduct of some worthwhile objective or result which is sought and achieved for its own sake." (Robert Townsend, When will we ever learn?)Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/
But why such a desire to kill and destroy human life? We know that huge amounts are being funded to corrupt the minds of people in this very issue. There's big money too in the birth control devices because it's catering to people's weaknesses in the matter of sexual morality. The only warning we can make to legislators and those promoting these devices that can and do kill human life is that one of the prominent sins calling for God's vengeance and punishment is willful murder (including abortion).
"The love of money is the root of all evils and there are some who, pursuing it, have wandered away from the faith, and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds" (1 Tim. 6:10). It's been a common defect and a wrong way of doing things that only brings failure in its wake. I mean that: when people make money the foundation of their lives. "Money, like prestige, if sought directly, is almost never gained.
It must come as a byproduct of some worthwhile objective or result which is sought and achieved for its own sake." (Robert Townsend, When will we ever learn?)Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
NO DISCRIMINATION – EQUALITY & JUSTICE FOR ALL FILIPINOS
The recent conflicts involving disputes must be clarified as to the perspectives or angles. But there must be no differentiation with respect to religion. Rather justice and equality must always be the application and consideration for each and every Filipino, irrespective of religion, gender or color. After all, these are inalienable rights of the individual person. Therefore it doesn’t seem appropriate to subdivide the Philippines by religious affiliations. That would create many troubles since there are varying religious denominations, many independent of one another. Let ownership of the land be based on objective and social justice.
If we are to respect all religions, that means too that we give each one the freedom they deserve to exercise their religion. What right has one to say they have the one, true religion? That’s their privilege, as well as the others’ too. Let God be the ultimate Judge on the lst day. After all the truth speaks for itself. In the meantime, let us join forces together, to dialogue and be sincere in our quest for truth and the fulfillment of God’s will. Let us be tolerant and bear with one another as the Lord commands: “You must love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:40; Lk. 19:18). The main human rights are inherent to the very nature of each and every human person, irrespective of religion, gender or race, and these are life, liberty and property.
Following are related paragraphs 176-177 of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:
176. By means of work and making use of the gift of intelligence, people are able to exercise dominion over the earth and make it a fitting home: “In this way, he makes part of the earth his own, precisely the part which he has acquired through work; this is the origin of individual property” (JP II, Centesimus Annus). Private property and other forms of private ownership of goods “assure a person a highly necessary sphere for the exercise of his personal and family authonomy and ought to be considered as an extension of human freedom…stimulating exercise of responsibility, it constitutes one of the conditions for civil liberty” (Vat. II, Gaudium et Spes). Private property is an essential element of an authentically social and democratic economic policy, and it is the guarantee of a correct social order. The Church’s social doctrine requires that ownership of goods be equally accessible to all (JP II, Centesimus Annus), so that all may become, at least in some measure, owners, and it excludes recourse to forms of “common and promiscuous dominion” (Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum).
177. Christian tradtion has never recognized the right to private property as absolute and untouchable: “On the contrary, it has always understood this right within the broader context of the right common to all to use the goods of the whole of creation: the right to private property is subordinated to the right to common use, to the fact that goods are meant for everyone” (JP II, Laborem Exercens). The principle of the universal destination of goods is an affirmation both of God’s full and perennial lordship over every reality and of the requirement that the goods of creation remain ever destined to the development of the whole person and of all humanity (Vat. II, Gaudium et Spes). This principle is not opposed to the right to private property (Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum) but indicates the need to regulate it. Private property, in fact, regardless of the concrete forms of the regulations and juridical norms relative to it, is in its essence only an instrument for respecting the principle of the universal destination of goods; in the final analysis, therefore, it is not an end but a means (Paul VI, Populorum Progressio).
If we are to respect all religions, that means too that we give each one the freedom they deserve to exercise their religion. What right has one to say they have the one, true religion? That’s their privilege, as well as the others’ too. Let God be the ultimate Judge on the lst day. After all the truth speaks for itself. In the meantime, let us join forces together, to dialogue and be sincere in our quest for truth and the fulfillment of God’s will. Let us be tolerant and bear with one another as the Lord commands: “You must love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:40; Lk. 19:18). The main human rights are inherent to the very nature of each and every human person, irrespective of religion, gender or race, and these are life, liberty and property.
Following are related paragraphs 176-177 of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church:
176. By means of work and making use of the gift of intelligence, people are able to exercise dominion over the earth and make it a fitting home: “In this way, he makes part of the earth his own, precisely the part which he has acquired through work; this is the origin of individual property” (JP II, Centesimus Annus). Private property and other forms of private ownership of goods “assure a person a highly necessary sphere for the exercise of his personal and family authonomy and ought to be considered as an extension of human freedom…stimulating exercise of responsibility, it constitutes one of the conditions for civil liberty” (Vat. II, Gaudium et Spes). Private property is an essential element of an authentically social and democratic economic policy, and it is the guarantee of a correct social order. The Church’s social doctrine requires that ownership of goods be equally accessible to all (JP II, Centesimus Annus), so that all may become, at least in some measure, owners, and it excludes recourse to forms of “common and promiscuous dominion” (Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum).
177. Christian tradtion has never recognized the right to private property as absolute and untouchable: “On the contrary, it has always understood this right within the broader context of the right common to all to use the goods of the whole of creation: the right to private property is subordinated to the right to common use, to the fact that goods are meant for everyone” (JP II, Laborem Exercens). The principle of the universal destination of goods is an affirmation both of God’s full and perennial lordship over every reality and of the requirement that the goods of creation remain ever destined to the development of the whole person and of all humanity (Vat. II, Gaudium et Spes). This principle is not opposed to the right to private property (Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum) but indicates the need to regulate it. Private property, in fact, regardless of the concrete forms of the regulations and juridical norms relative to it, is in its essence only an instrument for respecting the principle of the universal destination of goods; in the final analysis, therefore, it is not an end but a means (Paul VI, Populorum Progressio).
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Impossible for Man
We just keep on judging people for corruption, immorality, lust, pride, laziness, and other vices, and even comparing nations, and gauge their level of wickedness. What happens? Many apparently are clean and orderly in the outside but have worse and more wicked hidden agenda in the inside, which is of course, a worse hypocrisy or pakitang-tao or palabas.
We have to remember that for all these deep-seated vices of humanity the only remedy is the grace of the Saviour Jesus Christ plus our sincere repentance. I mean His grace because He is God-made-man in the sense that He took our human nature to save us from our sins. The name Jesus, in Hebrew Yehoshua means "Yahweh saves" or "God saves" (see Mt. 1:21).
The seven capital sins, all of which are the road to ruin, precisely express the attachment to worldly realities from which only God's grace can liberate. God's grace comes through prayer and God's word -- "Man lives not by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4). It's not money that is the root of evil but the seven inordinate loves or capital sins: pride, covetousness (or avarice), lust, anger, gluttony, envy, sloth. When the apostles were told by Jesus that it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, they were so astonished and remarked "Who then can be saved?"
The gospels say: "Jesus gazed at them ((with the eyes of mercy and consolation)) and told them: for man this is impossible, but for God everything is possible" (Mt. 19:23; Mk. 10:23; Lk. 18:24). In concrete the Church offers God's word, diverse prayers and the 7 sacraments as aid and channels of grace for erring humanity. "It is impossible to please God without faith, since anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and rewards those who try to find him" (Heb. 11:6). Without the grace of Jesus the Saviour Messiah, our world would be "living in darkness and the shadow of death" (Mt. 4:16; Is. 8:23-9:1).
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We have to remember that for all these deep-seated vices of humanity the only remedy is the grace of the Saviour Jesus Christ plus our sincere repentance. I mean His grace because He is God-made-man in the sense that He took our human nature to save us from our sins. The name Jesus, in Hebrew Yehoshua means "Yahweh saves" or "God saves" (see Mt. 1:21).
The seven capital sins, all of which are the road to ruin, precisely express the attachment to worldly realities from which only God's grace can liberate. God's grace comes through prayer and God's word -- "Man lives not by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4). It's not money that is the root of evil but the seven inordinate loves or capital sins: pride, covetousness (or avarice), lust, anger, gluttony, envy, sloth. When the apostles were told by Jesus that it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, they were so astonished and remarked "Who then can be saved?"
The gospels say: "Jesus gazed at them ((with the eyes of mercy and consolation)) and told them: for man this is impossible, but for God everything is possible" (Mt. 19:23; Mk. 10:23; Lk. 18:24). In concrete the Church offers God's word, diverse prayers and the 7 sacraments as aid and channels of grace for erring humanity. "It is impossible to please God without faith, since anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and rewards those who try to find him" (Heb. 11:6). Without the grace of Jesus the Saviour Messiah, our world would be "living in darkness and the shadow of death" (Mt. 4:16; Is. 8:23-9:1).
Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
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